The Wild West! Do We Love Our Guns, More Than Our Sons?

All countries have lessons to learn in this world and, like some, we have done our worst to others at times, both in the past and indeed recently. Nowadays we seem to want to side with and follow in America's footsteps much of the time. However, America is not a particularly healthy example of human decency and it doesn’t set a very good example to others as it bullies its way around the globe, backing Israel, despite the crimes, atrocities and theft of land, and fighting unjust wars in places like Vietnam and the Middle East, trashing the lives of both soldiers and the ordinary people in the process. This persistent on-going bad behaviour and lack of consideration has now put the world in yet another difficult and tragic situation and encouraged a breeding ground for a sick, violent and very ugly culture to manifest itself, spores from which now infect the very heart of our own communities. Like some dark perverse demon from deep within mankind’s ugliest, most distant, archaic and unsavoury past, we are now all becoming subject once again to the worst in our human nature. A single lie from a president and a prime minister and the resultant war that they were so eager to fight has finally popped the fragile cork from the top of the brewing bottle and let this demon from the Dark Age out to run riot. Whoever we may be, selfishly and ruthlessly imposing ourselves and taking what we want as we stand behind a gun is not an answer and it never will be. That is a lesson all men have to learn sooner or later. That lesson is now coming back to bite us on the backside!

The American president has tried to battle with America’s Wild West mentality with regard to its gun controls in recent times. While Mr Obama has been in office many more children have died as a result of lunatics getting their hands on readily available weapons and indiscriminately killing them. Bearing this in mind, is there something wrong with the American viewpoint of some, that guns are a necessity and a human right when for others they spell death and misery? Therefore, when we consider our collective responsibility, should we be flooding the world with such weapons which then get used by sickos and psychos against innocent people, women and children included? Selling arms wholesale is about as moral as selling smack and it ruins far more lives! In August 2014, a 39 year old shooting instructor was accidently killed by a nine year girl in America as she tried to learn to operate an Uzi submachine gun. In a more sane and sedate world a nine year girl would be playing with dolls or similar, surely? Some of us would wonder what the hell America is playing at, encouraging this sort of thing. Others think this is acceptable.

We have had our own gun incidents in the UK, but they pale into insignificance compared to what goes on in America. Of course we don't encourage the general availability of such weapons in the UK and it's nice that such controls are in place. It undoubtedly makes our world a bit safer. Even so, we still get gun related problems and of course we have had a history of tragedies with stabbings because we haven't acted sufficiently to deal with young people carrying knives. Frighteningly, despite our controls, they still hit the streets and that trend has also been taking place with guns. It is a sad fact that if people have these things, some will use them, even if just in the heat of the moment. Consequently lives will be wrecked. Some people simply don't care about this because they are more concerned with their own profits and selfish interests. But some of us do care, because we want peace in this world and we want this world to be a safer place for our children and for their children. However, some people are not going about that the right way at the moment.

ITV News reported recently (02/01/16) that 30,000 Americans die in gun related deaths every year. That works out to 82 deaths every day and every death ruins lives around it also. Is it a healthy society that thinks this is acceptable and still wants things to carry on as they are? The Wild West mentality will prevail wherever there are no such controls and it affects everyone. As America and we seem to be happy to poke our rather elongated Pinocchio nose into other countries’ affairs, pushing people around with the might of our armies and modern weapons, as well as sending our own sons to their death, the resultant problems and backlash we have caused has displaced, killed, and ruined the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. By what people see as unacceptable interference and bullying we have driven some people to an insane breaking point determined to fight back, adopting abhorrent tactics and a code of conduct that could have been written by Satan himself. There will always be idiots and lunatics in this world and some will always have dark and harmful thoughts, however, we don't have to provide them with the means or the reasons to carry them out!Crosstalk by Taz: February 2016